


sink and swim

by misura



Category: The Luminous Dead - Caitlin Starling
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:15:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21720808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Em takes Gyre on a holiday. (Well, it's also a business trip, but close enough.)
Relationships: Em Arasgain/Gyre Price
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	sink and swim

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anticyclone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anticyclone/gifts).



They didn't go to a garden world, in the end. Em had some corporate meeting thing on some planet Gyre had never even heard of, let alone ever planned on seeing.

_"Would you like to come with me? We should have some time to go exploring. We could play tourist for a bit,"_ she'd said, and Gyre hadn't known how to say that she'd never played tourist in her life, and she hadn't, quite, wanted to say that anywhere Em went, she'd go too, so instead, she'd simply said yes, and now here they were, on a beach.

People seemed to think the beach was wonderful. There were smiling people all around them, young and old, adults and children. Gyre wanted to scream. The amount of open space - it was too much.

"Gyre?" Even Em - Gyre could tell from her face that she didn't really understand, even if Em at least seemed to know Gyre wasn't as happy as everyone else here, wasn't about to lie down and do whatever it was people were supposed to do on a beach. (Lying down seemed to pretty much be it: only the kids seemed to be expected to do things, build stuff or throw a ball, stuff like that).

"I'm all right." It had become an automatism, a mantra. A wish. She was all right. She had no job, no hope to ever get work as a caver again, no job prospects. She didn't even have plans. All Gyre had was Em, and the worst of it was that that idea didn't even bother her all that much.

"Is it the heat? You should wear a hat, maybe. Sunglasses. We should buy you some."

Em had bought a lot of stuff. She always said 'we', when in fact she meant 'I'. She always meant 'I'. Gyre had stopped letting it bother her after the first few days.

"It's not the heat. I told you, I'm all right." If she could have a bit of time, she'd be able to handle the beach, she was sure of it. All these people - they couldn't be wrong. They wouldn't look so happy if there was anything to be afraid of. Gyre just needed a moment to adjust, that was all, to settle.

Em nodded, though she didn't look like she believed Gyre. "You do my back and I'll do yours?"

Gyre would have been confused, but Em was holding out a bottle of something - lotion.

"You want to swim? I got you a bathing suit," Em said. "Sorry. I just - I thought it'd be easier than taking you out shopping. Again. After all, we've only got a few days, and I need to attend another meeting tomorrow morning."

"I don't mind." Gyre supposed that she could have made something of it. Maybe she even should have, to make it clear to Em that they were equals now, that Em couldn't make decisions for Gyre anymore, or drug her, or make her risk her life without telling her why, but - it was just a bathing suit. "Swimming sounds like fun. Is there a pool nearby?"

Em gave her a hesitant look, then shifted her gaze to the water.

Gyre felt her stomach clench. "Never mind."

"The hotel has a pool," Em said quickly. "You can use it as much as you want. Sorry, I should have mentioned it before. I just thought you'd like it better to go swimming in the ocean. Most people do."

"It's - " Gyre stopped, trying to decide if she even wanted to try to explain. "I like enclosed spaces. Small spaces." _Caves_ , she wanted to say, except that she didn't know if that was still true. She hadn't gone down in any cave since - since the last one. She'd caved a bit sure, testing out her new limits, seeing how much she was still able to do with her prosthetic hand. But she hadn't suited up and gone down into any _real_ cave, one where she'd want Em to guide her, to watch over her.

Gyre thought Em would, if it was Gyre asking. Em would spend another few weeks barely sleeping, living in her office, to keep watch over Gyre, to make sure Gyre was all right.

"We can wander around town a bit," Em said, her expression suggesting that she did understand. "There's a couple of musea. Art galleries. We could try the local liquor."

Gyre shook her head. "No." She couldn't keep going like this. _It's only a beach. You can handle this._ The voice in her head sounded like Em's. "We can stay here for a couple of hours. I'll tell you if it gets too bad, I promise. Give me - " She made a grab for the bottle of lotion and Em let her take it.

It still felt good, to touch Em, to feel Em's skin under her hand, warm and alive.

Looking at Em in a bathing suit - that wasn't bad either. Gyre could get used to that.

They quibbled a bit over where to have dinner. Gyre felt Em didn't care all that much, that Em mostly wanted Gyre to have a chance to argue with her and win, to feel in control when the truth was that most of the control was still in Em's hands, even if she tried not to to be obvious about it.

The hotel offered room service - and there was the pool, of course.

Gyre liked the idea of going for a swim after dinner. She didn't think that meant they had to have dinner at the hotel though, either in the big, posh restaurant where she felt like everyone stared at her, recognizing her at once as someone who didn't belong, an intruder who was only there because of Em, or in their room.

It was a nice room. The first time Gyre had seen it, she'd tried to think of how much money the hotel would charge Em for a single night. The second day, she was just happy the room had such a big and luxuriously soft bed, perfect for a quick nap or a bit of snuggling that might turn into something a little less innocent, even if Em had proven to be very strict and serious about keeping to her schedule.

"They have underwater caves here, you know," Em told her as their waiter brought a series of bowls containing their dinner. Gyre had barely understood what Em had ordered. Based on the previous evenings, there would be a lot of fish.

Gyre had decided she quite liked fish. It would be one of the things she'd miss if she ever decided to go back to Cassandra V after all - which she didn't think likely, unless it was to stay with Em. Em's corporation was still there. It would be reasonable to expect her to continue living there.

"Nearby?" Gyre asked, suspecting the answer already. If they'd been nearby, Em would have taken her this afternoon, instead of to the beach. Unless the beach had been a test, to see how Gyre responded.

Em shook her head. "The next continent. A few hours to get there."

Gyre thought about going caving again. There wouldn't be any Tunnelers here. These would be empty caves, pretty safe, as far as caves went.

"Your prosthetic would be less of an issue in an underwater cave," Em said.

Em should know; she'd made several improvements to the design, even if prosthetics weren't really Arasgain's specialty. _"You're mine, though,"_ Em had said, when Gyre'd pointed this out, with a grin that was half-teasing and half-something else.

"Think about it," Em said, at the same time Gyre said, "I'll think about it."

Em nodded and took a few sips from her glass, then grimaced.

Gyre had been less adventurous; she'd asked for water, less because she wanted to keep a clear head and more because water still tasted like a treat, a luxury.

Of course, on this world, they literally had oceans full of the stuff, so it probably wasn't one here. Still, that didn't make the water taste any different.

Gyre allowed herself to float. It was late enough for the pool to be deserted - or maybe everyone interested in swimming went to the beach instead and it was like this all the time.

She wanted to go caving again. It had been a means to an end in the beginning, but she'd been good at it. She'd felt like it was something she was better at than most other people, and that had been a good feeling, a feeling worth pursuing.

She just didn't know if she wanted to go caving again on Cassandra V. Even with Em's best efforts, she'd be at a disadvantage compared to cavers with two good hands and less talent.

Gyre didn't think Em would stop her from going, but if anything happened, Gyre wouldn't forgive herself - and she wouldn't expect Em to, either. Gyre didn't want that, didn't want to make Em feel like she had to walk away from Gyre in order to protect herself from getting hurt again.

It was a problem, and one Gyre hadn't yet figured out how to solve.

"You're not going to fall asleep in there, are you?"

Em hadn't put on her own bathing suit, which Gyre thought was a pity. Then again, it wasn't as if the clothes Em were wearing made her look any less attractive. It would just take a bit more work to get her naked, for Gyre to get to her skin, to kiss and taste and touch.

"Sorry. Is it very late?" It had to be, Gyre reasoned, or else Em wouldn't have come looking for her.

Em shrugged. "The conference tomorrow morning starts pretty early, and I want to get a good night's sleep to make sure I'm fresh for it."

Gyre got out of the water, allowing Em to put a towel around her, then leaning in for a kiss.

Em sighed. "You're getting my clothes wet."

"You're going to be taking them off soon anyway," Gyre said.

"Confident, aren't you?" Em arched an eyebrow.

Gyre grinned and kissed her again. "Good night's sleep, remember?"

"It's not _that_ late yet," Em said.

Gyre laughed and followed her back to their room with the big, luxuriously soft bed.


End file.
